It felt like a fever dream. Sitting on a bus in 2014, holding a device that fit in a pocket, and watching Mario punch Link in the face at a silky-smooth 60 frames per second. People forget how impossible that seemed. Before Super Smash Bros 3DS landed, the idea of a portable Smash game was basically playground gossip—the stuff of fake "leak" threads on GameFAQs.
Then it happened.
Masahiro Sakurai and his team at Sora Ltd. and Bandai Namco did the unthinkable. They squeezed a massive console experience into a tiny clamshell. It wasn’t just a "lite" version of the Wii U game. It was a standalone beast that actually outsold its big brother by millions of copies. Honestly, if you look at the numbers, more people experienced this generation of Smash on a 3DS than on a TV. That’s wild.
The technical wizardry behind Super Smash Bros 3DS
Most people don't realize the sheer amount of blood, sweat, and coding tears that went into making this work. The Nintendo 3DS hardware was already aging by 2014. It had a modest processor. It had limited RAM. To get Super Smash Bros 3DS running, the developers had to disable the 3DS internet browser and Miiverse in the background just to reclaim enough memory for the game to function. If you ever wondered why your 3DS took forever to restart after closing the game, that’s why. It was literally performing a hard reboot of the system's soul.
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Sakurai opted for a thick, cel-shaded outline on the characters. This wasn't just a stylistic choice. It was a practical solution to the small screen size. Without those outlines, Pikachu and Kirby would have just been blurry blobs against the background. You could turn them off in the settings, but almost nobody did because they realized it was the only way to track the action during a chaotic four-player match.
The game also used a clever trick where characters were rendered at 60fps, but certain background elements and Assist Trophies ran at 30fps. It was a compromise, but it worked. The gameplay felt tight. It felt like Smash.
Smash Run: The mode we actually wanted to keep
If you ask any hardcore fan about Super Smash Bros 3DS, they won't talk about the graphics first. They’ll talk about Smash Run. This was the exclusive mode that the Wii U version didn't get. It was basically a five-minute dungeon crawl through a massive map filled with classic Nintendo enemies. You’d fight ReDeads from Zelda, Polar Bears from Ice Climber, and those annoying Tektites.
As you killed enemies, you collected stat boosts. Speed, Jump, Attack, Defense—you were essentially building a "build" on the fly. Then, at the end of the five minutes, you’d face off against three other players in a random final challenge. It might be a standard battle, or a race to the top of a tower, or a competition to see who could kill the most Mapes.
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It was chaotic. It was messy. It was perfect.
The Wii U version got "Smash Tour," which was basically a weird board game that almost everyone hated. To this day, fans are still asking for Smash Run to come back in a modern title. It offered a sense of progression that the standard "Classic Mode" just couldn't touch.
The "C-Stick" problem and the hardware struggle
We have to be honest: playing Super Smash Bros 3DS on an original 3DS or 2DS was a nightmare for your hands. The "Circle Pad" was never meant for the violent, flicking motions required for a high-level Smash game. There are thousands of photos online of snapped Circle Pads, victims of a particularly intense game against a Level 9 CPU Bowser.
Then the "New Nintendo 3DS" arrived.
It added that tiny little rubber nub—the C-Stick. It changed everything. Suddenly, performing aerial attacks in a specific direction without losing your momentum became easy. If you were serious about the game, you upgraded your hardware. If you stayed on the old hardware, you were basically playing at a disadvantage.
There was also the issue of the Ice Climbers. This is a bit of Smash lore that still stings. Sakurai confirmed in his Famitsu columns that the Ice Climbers were actually running on the Wii U version, but they couldn't get the duo to work on the 3DS hardware. Because Nintendo insisted on character parity between the two versions, Nana and Popo were cut from both. The 3DS hardware literally dictated the roster of the console game.
Why the 3DS version actually mattered for the pro scene
You might think the competitive scene ignored the 3DS version, but it played a massive role as a "lab" tool. Because the 3DS was portable, top players could practice their movement and combos anywhere. On the train. In a hotel lobby. In the bathroom.
It also served as the first time Smash players had a truly functional online ladder with "For Glory" mode. While the lag could be atrocious depending on your McDonald's Wi-Fi connection, it gave a generation of players their first taste of ranked competition. It moved the "meta" forward faster than any previous game because people were playing thousands of matches a day from their bedrooms.
Things that haven't aged well (and things that have)
Looking back, the "Classic Mode" on 3DS was actually quite good. You had a choice of paths with different rewards and difficulties. It felt more interactive than the linear paths in later games.
However, the 3D effect? Forget about it. Turning on the 3D during a high-speed match of Smash was a one-way ticket to a migraine. The frame rate stayed stable, which was impressive, but trying to keep your eyes focused on a shifting 3D plane while a Fox is shining you across the stage was impossible.
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The stage selection was also a mixed bag. Since it was a handheld game, the stages were themed after other handheld titles. You had the Magicant stage from Earthbound (specifically the Mother 1 version), the Spirit Train from Zelda, and the Dream Land Game Boy stage. These were fantastic and gave the game its own identity.
How to play it today
If you’re looking to revisit Super Smash Bros 3DS, you have a few options, but the clock is ticking. The Nintendo eShop for the 3DS is closed. You can't just go buy it digitally anymore. You have to hunt down a physical cartridge, which, luckily, are still fairly cheap because Nintendo printed millions of them.
The online servers? They’re officially dead. Nintendo shut down 3DS and Wii U online play in April 2024. If you want to play with friends, you’re looking at local wireless play only. That means four people, four 3DS systems, and four copies of the game in the same room. It’s a retro experience now.
Actionable steps for the modern Smash fan
If you still have your 3DS tucked away in a drawer, here is how you get the most out of it right now:
- Check your version: Make sure you’re on version 1.1.7. This was the final balance patch. Without it, characters like Bayonetta and Cloud are even more broken than they already were. Since you can't get updates through the eShop easily anymore, you might need to look into "alternative" ways to update your handheld.
- Hunt for a "Circle Pad Pro": If you are using an original 3DS (not the "New" model), this accessory adds a second circle pad. It doesn't act as a C-Stick for Smash, but it makes the console much more ergonomic for long sessions.
- Try Smash Run with friends: Local play is the only way left to experience the true chaos of Smash Run. It is worth the effort of syncing up with a friend.
- Transfer your data: If you happen to have the Wii U version as well, remember that you can use the 3DS as a controller for the Wii U. It’s a bit laggy, but it’s a fun novelty if you’re short on GameCube controllers.
Super Smash Bros 3DS wasn't just a technical achievement. It was a bridge. It bridged the gap between the casual "play on the couch" crowd and the hardcore "always practicing" crowd. It proved that Smash didn't need a TV to be great. It just needed a solid frame rate and a roster of icons. Even if the hardware struggled to keep up, the heart of the game was undeniable.